Scindia favourite as race heats up for new MP Congress chief post

After Chief Minister Kamal Nath's recent meeting with Rahul Gandhi, it was expected that the party would soon announce the name of its Madhya Pradesh Pradesh Congress Committee chief. There are many prospective candidates for the post and lobbying is on in right earnest. The names of leaders including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Home Minister Bala Bachchan, Umang Singhar and Ajay Singh have been making the rounds for some time now. A host of ministers are openly pushing for Scindia to be their state unit chief. Ministers Govind Singh, Prabhuram Choudhary and Pradyumna Singh Tomar are among them. Sources say the chief minister himself is batting for his Home Minister Bala Bachchan.

Wrong number
 

Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav (pictured) on Wednesday said in the House during the Zero Hour that “vulgar” advertisements and “wardrobe malfunctions” of models wearing lingerie on television contributed to crimes against women. Yadav demanded a ban on such advertisements to protect India's culture from bad influences. He said it had become difficult to watch news shows on television along with the family because of such advertisements shown during breaks. Yadav quoted Arnold J Toynbee's multi-volume A Study of History saying the historian identified nudity and alcoholism as the two major reasons for the disintegration of a civilization. “You (the BJP) promised to abolish (Article) 370 (of the Constitution) but what you did was that you removed (section) 377 (of the Indian Penal Code),” Yadav said. Article 370 grants special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and is part of BJP's core agenda to repeal it.

Change of place
 

The seating arrangement in the Rajya Sabha is set to change in the coming days. With Arun Jaitley having retired from active politics temporarily, Amit Shah and Ravi Shankar Prasad elected to the Lok Sabha and four Telugu Desam Party members joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, including its leader Y S Chowdary, some of the front row seats in the treasury benches have fallen vacant. Sources said the new seating arrangement would mean Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman (pictured) could now get front row seats. It is possible that Lok Janshakti Party Chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who is now in the Rajya Sabha, could also get a front row seat.